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The Calgary Flames keep finding useful players in the seventh round

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Ryan Pike | Last updated 6/25/23

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When it comes to the NHL Draft, the seventh round is a bit of a crapshoot. Are you finding anybody amazing? Well, nobody who’s amazing yet, but the hope is you can find somebody with potential that has otherwise been overlooked for whatever reason.

The Calgary Flames own their seventh-round pick, 208th overall, in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Their last five picks

Here are the last five seventh-round selections for the Flames:

In 2022, the Flames selected forward Cade Littler from the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild at 219th overall.
In 2021, the Flames selected goalie Arsenii Sergeev from the NAHL’s Sherveport Mudbugs at 205th overall.
In 2020 the Flames selected defenceman Ilya Solovyov from the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit at 205th overall.
In 2019, the Flames selected goalie Dustin Wolf from the WHL’s Everett Silvertips at 214th overall.
In 2018, the Flames selected forward Dmitry Zavgorodniy from the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic at 198th overall.

The Flames traded their 2019 seventh-round selection to Ottawa for Nick Shore. They acquired Carolina’s 2019 seventh-rounder in the Eddie Lack trade.

Zavgorodniy, Wolf and Solovyov all signed entry-level deals. Zavgorodniy terminated his deal and went back to Russia. Wolf has played in the NHL, albeit once. Solovyov has played a couple seasons in the AHL.

Sergeev is currently in the NCAA, while Littler will head there in another season. Sergeev has a strong chance to get an ELC based on his college performances thus far.

Some notable selections

11 seventh-rounders have played NHL games, eight of them with the Flames.

Notables include Bobby Gould (1977), Stu Grimson (1985), Ladislav Kohn (1994) and David Moss (2001).

Some notable misses

As we noted with other later round selections, it’s tough to call any seventh-rounder that doesn’t play NHL games a miss.

But it’s worth noting that Wolf was the first seventh-rounder to play a game for the Flames since David van der Gulik, their 2002 seventh-rounder. That’s a pretty big gap.

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This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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